Glove or mitten with colored mesh backing

ABSTRACT

A hand covering, such as a workman&#39;&#39;s glove or mitten having a front portion of wear-resistant leather-like material for covering the palm, thumb and front surfaces of the fingers and wrist of a wearer, and a back portion for covering the back of the hand and fingers of the wearer. The back portion is of monofilament material loosely woven or interlaced to provide open spaces for free movement of air therethrough, whereby the interior of the covering is effectively ventilated. The monofilament material is colored with high light-reflective coloring matter, and the back portion is formed to provide spaced ridges so that light is reflected at various angles from the back portion.

United States Patent Sabin et al.

A. Sabin, 116 W. Walnut, both of Manly, Iowa 50456 22 Filed: Nov. 13,1972 21 Appl. No.: 305,966

[52] US. Cl. 2/158, 2/167 [51] Int. Cl A41d 19/00 [58] Field ofSearch..... 2/16, 158, 159,160, 161 R, 2/l6l A, 163, 167

[56] References'Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 258,337 5/1882 Witherell2/158 3,341,861 9/1967 Robbins 3,036,927 5/1962 .lerothe 2/l67 x FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 469,818 12 1950 Canada 2/161 R 1451 Jan. 29,1974 Primary Examiner-Geo V. Larkin [57] ABSTRACT A hand covering, suchas a workmans glove or mitten having a front portion of wear-resistantleather-like material for covering the palm, thumb and front surfaces ofthe fingers and wrist of a wearer, and a back portion for covering theback of the hand and fingers of the wearer. The back portion'is ofmono-filament material loosely woven or interlaced to provide openspaces for free movement of air therethrough, whereby the interior ofthe covering is effectively ventilated. The monofilament material is'"colored with high light-reflective coloring matter, and the back portionis formed to provide spaced ridges so that light is reflected at variousangles from the back portion.

' 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures GLOVE OR MITTEN WITII COLORED MES BACKINGBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to workmens gloves ormittens, which, for theprotection of the workers hands, are usually wornin warm weather as well as during cold seasons. For the most part, suchmittens and gloves are made entirely of heavy canvas, leather or othersimilar materials, and are highly uncomfortable in warm weather, causingundue perspiration of the wearers hands, and early decay of the glove ormitten material. Knitted gloves having leather facing on the palms andfingers are known, these being usually of wool or other effectiveheat-insulating material, and they are intended for winter use only.Hand coverings, such as gloves or mittens, having reflective portionsaffixed thereto are also known, these being usually of leather orclosely knitted or woven fabric, and uncomfortably warm during summerweather.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An important object of thisinvention is theprovision of a workers hand covering, such as a work glove or mitten,which can be worn in relative comfort in warm weather, as well as incolder seasons.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a glove or mittenas set forth, which has a back portion of highly light reflectivematerialficlearly visible from different angles.

To the above ends, we provide'ahand covering having a front portion ofwear-resistant close-knit material for covering the wearers palm, thumband adjacent sides of the fingers and wrist, and a back portion forcovering the back of the wearers hand and at least some of the fingers.The back portion is made up of loosely interlaced mono-filaments andformed into spaced apart ridges that project outwardly with respect tothe back portion. The loose open mesh arrangement provides ventilatingspaces through the back portion, the spaces combining to provide a totalopen area that is substantially greater than the area covered by thefilaments alone. The monofilament material is colored with bright,highly reflective coloring matter so as to be clearly visible in variousdirections and at various angles of the lightimpingement' thereagainst.

DESCRIPTION OF THE-DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a mittenshowing the ventilated back portion of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken substantially on the line22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary view in elevation of a portionof the back panel of the mitten of FIGS. I and 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken generally on the line 4-4 of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section of open mesh woven material;and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view in section of sheet material having agenerally flat outer surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED v EMBODIMENT A workmans mitten isshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as comprising front and rear portions 1' and 2respectively,

the front portion 1 being preferably made of leather or similarwear-resistant material, to provide a palm section 3, a wrist section 4and a thumb covering section 5. The back portion 2 is substantiallycoextensive in length and width with the front portion 1 and is sewn orotherwise secured along its opposite side edges and outer end to themarginal edges of the front portion 1 by stitching or the like,indicated at 6. In the embodiment illustrated, the wrist section of theback portion 2 is provided with a band of elastic material 7 in awellknown and conventional manner, to enable the mitten to be applied tothe wearers hand, and to hold the mitten against accidental removal fromthe wearers hand.

The back portion 2 is in the nature of a flexible panel comprisingfilaments 8 of mono-filament material, preferably synthetic plasticmaterial, dyed or otherwise treated with bright colored highlyreflective and luminescent coloring matter such as that commonly knownand manufactured and sold under the trademark DAY-GLO. The filaments 8are knit, woven or otherwise interlaced to form laterally spaced,parallel ridges 9 that project laterally outwardly from the plane of theback portion 2, the ridges 9 extending longitudinally of the glove ormitten from the wrist portion to the outer end or finger tip end of themitten. The filaments 8 are so loosely interlaced as to definerelatively large spaces I0 therebetween, the spaces 10 being of a sizeto provide a total open area greater than that covered by the filaments8 only. With this arrangement, the back portion 2 provides for ampleventilation for the interior of the glove or mitten so that the wearershand is comfortable even when the mitten is worn in summer weather.Thus, the wearers hand may be protected from rough materials which hemay be handling without undue discomfort from perspiration, and the lifeof the material of the front portion 1 is not unduly shortened by decaydue to prespiration.

The laterally outwardly projecting ridges 9 are highly effective inmaking the back portion 2 of the glove or mitten clearly visible oncloudy days or after dark when artificial light is needed at a worksite. This is particularly valuable when the back portion 2 is viewedfrom an angle oblique to the plane of the back portion 2. Such asituation is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. In FIG. 5, light rays areindicated by full lines 11 as impinging on a loosely woven mesh sheet 12and being reflected therefrom in directions indicated by dotted lines13, approaching parallel relationship with the plane of the sheet 12.With the filaments of the sheet 12 being dyed with luminescent coloringmatter, emitted light will travel from the filaments of the sheet 12 inall directions therefrom including those of'the reflected rays 13. InFIG. 6, light rays are shown as impinging against the relatively flatunbroken surface of a solid sheet of material I4, these rays beingindicated at 15. Obviously, the rays 15 will be reflected from the sheet14 at substantially the same angles as they approach the sheet 14, thereflected rays being shown by dotted lines and indicated at 16. Evenwith a coating of luminescent coloring matter, as indicated at 17, lightemitted from the 1 coating 17 will not be nearly-as visible to the eyeof a viewer when the surface is seen from a highly acute angle as whenthe surface 17 is viewed along a line normal to the surface.

The glove or mitten of this invention is particularly useful to workmenwho labor in areas of vehicular traffic such as city streets or onrailroad tracks, during the bright hours of the day, as well as duringtimes of poor visibility. ln railraod work it has been found thatsignals given by a switchman wearing the mitten of this invention, aremuch more visible to a locomotive engineer at a distance, than when theswitchman is wearing ordinary gloves or mittens. While wearing the gloveor mitten of this invention, a worker on a city street is much moreclearly visible to drivers of vehicles than heretofore and, as aboveindicated, the workmen can wear the glove or mitten in comfort, even inwarmer weather.

While we have shown and described a commercial embodiment of ourimproved hand covering, it will be understood that the same is capableof modification, without departure from the spirit and scope of theinvention, as defined in the claims.'

What is claimed is: a

l. A hand covering comprising; a front portion of close grained wearresistant material for covering the thumb, palm and adjacent sideof awearers wrist and fingers; and a back portion for covering the back ofthe hand, fingers and wrist of the wearer and comprising a panel offilaments of mono-filament material interlaced in open loose-wovenarrangement to define laterally the wrist portion to the outer endthereof.

1. A hand covering comprising; a front portion of close grained wearresistant material for covering the thumb, palm and adjacent side of awearer''s wrist and fingers; and a back portion for covering the back ofthe hand, fingers and wrist of the wearer and comprising a panel offilaments of mono-filament material interlaced in open loose-wovenarrangement to define laterally spaced parallel loose-woven ridgesprojecting outwardly from the plane of the panel, and open spacescooperating to provide a total open area substantially greater than thearea covered by the filaments only, said filaments being colored withluminescent coloring matter, the opposite side of said ridges and theouter edge surface thereof having surface areas that are adapted toreflect and emit light in various directions relative to the plane ofthe back portion.
 2. The hand covering defined in claim 1 in which saidridges extend longitudinally of the hand covering from the wrist portionto the outer end thereof.